The poorest nations of the world. Most third world nations are in debt to Western banks and governments or international lending organizations. Many depend on international aid to meet the basic needs of their population. (See Developing Countries.)

Phrase used originally to distinguish those countries that were aligned neither with the capitalist West, the First World, nor with the socialist East, the Second World. It remains widely used to describe non-industrialized, ex-colonial, or developing countries despite the collapse of the Second World. [See also Developing].

countries that are neither "first world" nor "second" world" countries, most of which are undeveloped or underdeveloped, and usually found in the "south".

Less-developed countries that are not capitalistic and industrialized (First World) or centrally-planned socialist economies (Second World); not intended to be derogatory.

The "worlds of development" concept originated with Louis Irving Horowitz. In Three Worlds of Development: The Theory and Practice of International Stratification (1972), Horowitz distinguishes between groups of countries that share similar patterns of socio-economic development. The criteria used to differentiate between countries include: the nature of the dominant economic system (i.e., "capitalist" vs. "socialist"; "open" vs. "closed"); the nature of the dominant political system (esp. in terms of their degree of participatory democracy); degree of urbanization; and, the role of the military in national life. The third world includes those countries of Central and South America, Africa, and Asia. The first world refers to Western capitalistic countries of America and Western Europe. The second world referred to the old Soviet Union countries.

Underdeveloped nations, such as in Asia, Latin America, and Africa.

A name that came into use during the 1960s to distinguish the rest of the world from the two Cold War power blocs of the capitalist west (United States and Europe) and the Communist east (Soviet Union, eastern Europe and China). These were the first and second worlds, respectively; the rest was the Third World.

underdeveloped and developing countries of Asia and Africa and Latin America collectively

an international NGO based in Dakar, Senegal that focuses on sustainable development in Africa and the developing world

a poor country with little money

the underdeveloped nations of the world, esp. those with widespread poverty.

Roughly means the relatively "undeveloped" and predominantly poorer countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America, the First World being the richer countries of North America, Western Europe and Australasia; the Second World was the former Communist world of Eastern Europe and the USSR.

Term generally applied to nations moving toward industrialization and economic stabilization; the term developing world is now more commonly used.

term used during the Cold War that referred to developing nations that did not identify themselves with either the USA or Soviet blocs

A term that is generally used to refer to the poorer nations and people of Earth. After the end of World War II, many nations generally aligned themselves into two categories: those who believed in capitalism (the U.S., several European nations, Australia), and those who followed communism (the former Soviet Union and its satellites). These were referred to, respectively, as the First World and the Second World. But there were many nations that were unaligned - they held three-fourths of Earth’s population - and they became known as the "Third World." They included Africa, some of the Middle East and Asia, Latin America, and the island nations of Oceania. Although there’s considerable confusion about what places should and should not be called "Third World," the term still stays around as a shorthand way to refer to the less-wealthy parts of the world. Part of a topographical ("topo") map. Do the lines give you an idea of elevations? (US Geological Survey)

Economically developing countries in Asia, Africa and South America.

a term widely used by international organizations and by scholars to group Africa, Asia, and Latin America into a single unit. (p. 856)

Nations outside the capitalist industrial nations of the first world and the industrialized Communist nations of the second world; generally less economically powerful, but with varied economies. (p. 933)

This is a term applied to nations that were aligned with neither the Communist bloc (the "second world") nor the West (the "first world").

The terms First World, Second World, and "Third World" can be used to divide the nations of Earth into three broad categories. "Third World" is a term first coined in 1952 by French demographer Alfred Sauvy on the model of Sieyès's declaration concerning the Third Estate during the French Revolution: "...because at the end this ignored, exploited, scorned Third World like the Third Estate, wants to become something too." The Third World later became a synonym for those nations that aligned themselves with neither the West nor with the Soviet Bloc during the Cold War.

Third World is a Jamaican reggae band formed in 1973. Their sound is influenced by soul, funk and disco and is considered by some reggae purists to be overly "commercial".